shave stick usage

**map47** · 08-07-2012, 03:01 PM

hi,
i am in the first month of Wetshaving i started using an Arko shave stick last week,and i went from wet stick direct to wet face and then applied wet brush.lather was ok but i felt it should have been better,i suspect my technique is at fault.i thought i saw on YOUTUBE where the guy cut the soap and but it right in bowl and built the later there! any suggestion welcome.thanks alot

**the_edski** · 08-07-2012, 03:04 PM

If you have sparse growth or hair that isn't on the tough side, not much soap will be scraped off the shave stick. Same as you would anything else, try loading it on your face for longer making sure to go against the grain for maximum scraping. Also, feel free to load some soap direct from the stick to the brush as well and don't feel like a loser if you need to work it in a bowl as well. Good luck!

**jay67212** · 08-07-2012, 03:05 PM

I don't have an Arko stick and I don't face lather, but what I've done with some soaps that come in blocks like Valobra, is to cut it up and mash it into a bowl and then lather my brush from that. I use a wet brush and twirl it for about 60 seconds. It's called "Marco's Technique." He has a whole thread on the subject.
And, welcome aboard!

**Luc** · 08-07-2012, 05:19 PM

The tutorials should help: http://wiki.badgerandblade.com/Category:Lathering

Normally (not always), a shave stick is used the way you described (face lathering). However, nothing should prevent you from bowl lathering. Some prefer that. Making good lather takes practice. You might need a bit more water as I noticed myself this week (first week with Arko) that this is a thirsty stick compared to other sticks I used in the past. As soon as you will adjust yourself, you will be fine. Practice if you can before your next shave.

**Dusty1** · 08-07-2012, 05:42 PM

I agree it does take practice, but once the stars align it's a lot of fun. Don't give up!

**shakin_jake** · 08-07-2012, 10:29 PM

Originally Posted by map47

hi,
i am in the first month of Wetshaving i started using an Arko shave stick last week,and i went from wet stick direct to wet face and then applied wet brush.lather was ok but i felt it should have been better,i suspect my technique is at fault.i thought i saw on YOUTUBE where the guy cut the soap and but it right in bowl and built the later there! any suggestion welcome.thanks alot

~~~if your beard is light like mine, shave sticks are frustrating to use doe to the low whiskar count in your beard...shavers with fuller beards have way more whiskars to pick up the soap, so I don't bother using sahve sticks, but I like soaps like Arko so I grate them. That said, there are shavers here that just press Srko into a bowl but I prefer to grate mine into flakes, like this-

the soap I'm grating above is German Klar...you can use whatever kind of grater you have access to

After grating onto wax paper, I use the waxed paper to press the flakes into the bowl

the bowl I'm using here is made by Anchor Hocking...you can buy them at Target, K-mar4t, your grocery

what I like about this particular bowl is the width...it's large enough to load a big brush like my chubby 3

now, if you like to bowl lather, you will only load your brush from your soap bowl but I like/prefer to face lather so I load my brush from this bowl and take the bruish straight to my face

Since you're new to this, if you want to try your hand at face lathering, I find it best to keep the water in my brush instaed of shaking it out when I begin to load the brush on top of the soap. keeping the brush full of water allows the brush to fill with lather...you do have to spend some time swirling on top of the soap...1 minute, 100 swirls?, just make sure you spend some time loading the brush so it will fill up with soap

BTW, I think Arko is a very good soap for face lathering. you'll know when you have loaded your shave brush well enough as it will make gobs of lather on your face

you'll have to play around with ratios (soap to water). if you have too much product in your brush, you'll have to dip the brush tips in water (you have your sink filled with water while you shave right?) and then take that water to your face to thin the lather out...so if your laoded brush is too full of soap, just load less next time around

if you find you are running out of lather in your brush between passes you can always dunk the soap dish in water (to get it wet) then swirl your brush on the soap to re-load...no biggie, and some of us like to re-load the brush while shaving instead of getting it full of soap before the first pass. Find your own style...nothing is black and white

Best,

Jake
Reddick Fla.

**Marco** · 08-07-2012, 10:42 PM

Follow Joel's excellent tuturial here http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...-shaving-stick and you'll be very happy with your lather!

**Sledgehammer39** · 08-08-2012, 07:30 AM

Originally Posted by shakin_jake

~~~if your beard is light like mine, shave sticks are frustrating to use doe to the low whiskar count in your beard...shavers with fuller beards have way more whiskars to pick up the soap, so I don't bother using sahve sticks, but I like soaps like Arko so I grate them. That said, there are shavers here that just press Srko into a bowl but I prefer to grate mine into flakes, like this-

the soap I'm grating above is German Klar...you can use whatever kind of grater you have access to

After grating onto wax paper, I use the waxed paper to press the flakes into the bowl

the bowl I'm using here is made by Anchor Hocking...you can buy them at Target, K-mar4t, your grocery

what I like about this particular bowl is the width...it's large enough to load a big brush like my chubby 3

now, if you like to bowl lather, you will only load your brush from your soap bowl but I like/prefer to face lather so I load my brush from this bowl and take the bruish straight to my face

Since you're new to this, if you want to try your hand at face lathering, I find it best to keep the water in my brush instaed of shaking it out when I begin to load the brush on top of the soap. keeping the brush full of water allows the brush to fill with lather...you do have to spend some time swirling on top of the soap...1 minute, 100 swirls?, just make sure you spend some time loading the brush so it will fill up with soap

BTW, I think Arko is a very good soap for face lathering. you'll know when you have loaded your shave brush well enough as it will make gobs of lather on your face

you'll have to play around with ratios (soap to water). if you have too much product in your brush, you'll have to dip the brush tips in water (you have your sink filled with water while you shave right?) and then take that water to your face to thin the lather out...so if your laoded brush is too full of soap, just load less next time around

if you find you are running out of lather in your brush between passes you can always dunk the soap dish in water (to get it wet) then swirl your brush on the soap to re-load...no biggie, and some of us like to re-load the brush while shaving instead of getting it full of soap before the first pass. Find your own style...nothing is black and white

Best,

Jake
Reddick Fla.

I like your idea, never thought do it that way!

**shakin_jake** · 08-08-2012, 10:33 AM

Originally Posted by Sledgehammer39

I like your idea, never thought do it that way!

~~~I just don't have the beard you need to grab soap from the stick. I've found using a shave stick (rubbing it on my face) to be a painful experience (literally). Luc encouraged me to use a shave stick early on in my wet shaving career, and unbeknownst to me I had a light sun burn that made it painful...I told him I just didn't care for the experience, but I persevered and bought other sticks thinking it was the particular stick I bought that was giving me trouble. Well, after I figured out my skin was sensitive from a light burn and tried it again with another brand of stick, same thing, it was just too much trouble and the real problem is, I don't have enough facial growth to grab soap from the stick

Sure, I learned that I could get the stick wet, rub that on my skin and with enough application, I can get enough soap to transfer to my face and make it worth but it really isn't worth it for me so I've taken all of my shave sticks and grated them into either the Anchor Hocking custard/desert dishes or I use cappucchino cups that work with my smaller brushes

shave sticks like Tabac isn't worth bothering with since you can buy Tabac in puck form but shave sticks like Speick and Palmolive (for instance), if you want theior shave soap, buying and grating a stick is the only way you're going to get to use it if you don't care to use them in stick form

Same with pucks that are sold and you don't have a suitable container that they can fit in...by grating the puck, you can make it fit into whatever container you want to use, and the last two I obtained that way that comes to mind is a puck of L'Occitane soap and Truefit % Hill's shave soap & both are now grated and pressed into some spare cappucchino cups I had lying around

But I'll re-iterate and say I've found that the Anchor Hocking glass dishes work out best, even though they take up much more room

Best,

Jake
Reddick Fla.